Internet & Media- Page 1184

Legal advocates push for Google Books privacy

Google should promise to protect the privacy of consumers with its Book Search service, the ACLU, Electronic Frontier Foundation and Samuelson Law Technology & Public Policy Clinic at UC Berkeley Law said in a letter to the search giant on Thursday.

"Under its current design, Google Book Search keeps track of what books readers search for and browse, what books they read, and even what they 'write' down in the margins," the groups wrote in a letter (PDF) to Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt.

"Given the long and troubling history of government and third-party efforts to compel … Read more

Source: Yahoo-Microsoft deal unlikely this week

Microsoft and Yahoo may well reach some sort of search partnership, but any deal is unlikely to come this week, a source told CNET News.

The on-again, off-again talks reportedly heated up last week, with Microsoft executives said to have traveled to Yahoo. The All Things Digital Web site reported that things were "down to the short strokes."

Among those said to have made the Silicon Valley trip were three of Microsoft's top online executives: Yusuf Mehdi, Satya Nadella, and Qi Lu.

However, a deal has yet to materialize, and a source said on Thursday that none … Read more

PayPal will be bigger than eBay.com, CEO says

PASADENA, Calif.--PayPal is just over a third of eBay's revenue at the moment, but the online payment service will ultimately be bigger than the company's flagship e-commerce site, its chief executive said Thursday.

"PayPal is a business that will be bigger than eBay," CEO John Donahoe said in a talk at the Fortune Brainstorm: Tech conference here. However, he said that shift will take four to six years.

Donahoe's comments came just as the company announced that it is opening up its PayPal platform to third-party developers. "There is this opportunity for an … Read more

Facebook hits one billion video views

Facebook has hit another milestone--over one billion video views last month. Since launching Facebook Video in June 2007, video views have steadily grown, and now, there are four times as many video views as actual Facebook members.

In a promotional video that Facebook posted on its Career site Wednesday, two engineers, Soleio Cuervo and Chris Putnam, talk about how they conceived of Facebook Video and then built it out at a "Hackathon" in January 2007.

At Hackathon events, Facebook engineers spend one night, all night, working on ideas that have been simmering for the few months prior. The … Read more

Netflix earnings beat analyst expectations

Netflix reported strong earnings after the bell on Thursday that outpaced analyst expectations, proving once again that a down economy can't slow the Web's top movie rental service.

For the company's second quarter ended June 30, Netflix saw net income of $32 million on revenue of $408.4 million, a 21 percent increase in revenue from the same quarter last year.

The Los Gatos, Calif.,-based company paid investors 54 cents per diluted share compared to 42 cents a diluted share a year ago. Analysts on average had expected the company to report 50 cents a share … Read more

Wi-Fi Alliance: Wireless-N to be finalized soon

Matthew Gast, a voting member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), suggested in his recent blog that the current Wireless-N (or 802.11n Draft) specification is going to be finalized in September.

If this is true, that would mean the specification took about seven years to become finalized from the day it was conceived.

So what does it mean for consumers? Apparently not much, according to the Wi-Fi Alliance, the group that tests and certifies wireless networking products to ensure their interoperability.

The group announced Thursday that it will not change the baseline requirements of its 802.… Read more

News Corp.'s Miller: MySpace needs a culture shift

PASADENA, Calif.--News Corp. digital chief Jonathan Miller said Thursday that MySpace needs a culture shift that focuses on spotting changes in consumer behavior and adapting more quickly.

"One of the things about this medium is you have to continually develop product," Miller said, speaking at the Brainstorm: Tech conference here. "You can't just put something on the shelf."

For MySpace, that means focusing on doing a few things well. Asked about Rupert Murdoch's recent comments that MySpace should focus on entertainment, Miller said: "When you get involved in companies that need to … Read more

AOL trying to find 'white spaces' on the Internet

PASADENA, Calif.--The Tim Armstrong road show continued on Thursday, with the AOL chief executive dropping by the Fortune Brainstorm: Tech conference.

Armstrong made many of the same arguments he has been making--namely that the Internet is still in its infancy and that AOL represents one of the biggest opportunities and challenges in the Internet arena.

The former Google executive laid out the areas where AOL plans to focus--display advertising, content, messaging and local services, including the once-leading one--MapQuest. In that last area Armstrong acknowledged that the company has fallen behind.

"We probably missed a generation of technology which … Read more

Digital music suffering from entrepreneur drain

PASADENA, Calif.-Of all the losses suffered by the music industry, one of the biggest may be the fact that nearly all of the investors that once were building digital music services have moved on.

"There are not a lot of entrepreneurs involved in this space," said David Pakman, a music industry veteran and now venture capitalist at Venrock Associates.

By Pakman's count, there have been 109 venture-backed digital music start-ups. Fewer than five, though, produced a substantial return, he said.

"Investors lost a lot of money in this space," he said, speaking on a … Read more

Yahoo confirms it's scooping up Xoopit

Yahoo has agreed to acquire Xoopit, a start-up that helps people share content from their in-boxes with social-networking sites such as Facebook, the Web pioneer confirmed Wednesday.

With the purchase of the San Francisco-based start-up, Yahoo plans to add new photo features to Yahoo Mail, Yahoo Senior Vice President Bryan Lamkin said on a company blog posting:

Why is this such a big deal? Yahoo Mail is actually home to one of the largest online photo repositories in the world. And every day, millions of you use Yahoo Mail as your primary way to share the photos of important moments … Read more